paulette godard,, the female lead in this film and modern times was half jewish.so, this dynamic of antisemitism was something that chaplin took very, very seriously. i do think that the most interesting thing is modern times, from the point of view of political messages and it comes from chaplin's own experiences in the world, in the years leading up to this production. chaplin, of course, had become a star during the days of silent film but by 1930 films were being made with the sound and chaplin really hesitated to produce films that contained sound. in the silent films, the tramp could be so much more active, so much more movement and energy then and scenes that future dialogue. those would be more static, typically. and chaplin himself, wrote for years i have specialized in one type of comedy, pantomime. i have been able to establish exact principles to govern in its reactions to put audiences, a certain pace, certain tempo. dialogue, to my way of thinking, always slows action because action must wait for words. chaplin, the populist of course, always loved s